Play Dead

Promising start to a series, set in Savannah, that walks the line between police procedural and supernatural thriller.

'Play Dead' is the start of a series of books about Elise Sandburg, a homicide detective with the Savannah Police Department. In this first book, Elise is investigating instances of apparently people waking up on the coroner's slab and dying shortly afterwards. Elise gets the woo woo work because legend has it that she is the daughter of a famous root doctor and that she was found abandoned in an ancient Low Country cemetery.

I found it refreshing that, from the start, nobody thought these were really zombies. Which is not to say that a root doctor may not have been involved but if they are, they'll be found by detective show more work, not magic.

Elise Sandberg knows about root spell the way a lapsed Catholic knows about transubstantiation: she can describe the ceremonies and the intent, knows that it has power for others, doesn't buy-in to herself but accepts its presence as part of her identity.

For me, much of the appeal of the book was that it was filled with credible characters with real lives, albeit exotic ones. Elise is a mother as well as a detective and her relationships with her teenage daughter, and with her ex-husband and his new wife are well-drawn. Her new partner, an ex-FBI agent and a Northerner, has a traumatic past, a bleak present and may not have much of a future. The victims and bad guys, who are sometimes the same people, are complicated and human.

The plot had enough puzzle in it to make things interesting without putting the characters in the shade and Savannah provides a unique setting that feels authentic.

'Play Dead' was an entertaining read that made me want to read more in the series. show less

Play Dead was the perfect book to pick up when I was starting to go through a reading slump. There is just something about Anne Frasier's books that never fails to draw me in. I've read two other books in her Jude Fontaine mystery series (and loved them both) so was excited to give one of her other series to try. Her books always seem to have darker elements to them which never fails to make them hard to put down. In this book, Frasier includes voodoo elements that give the book a darker and creepier edge. I really liked Elise as the main character. There is just something that I enjoy about mysteries featuring strong female main characters where there is a hint of mystery to the main character. With this book, there are questions of show more Elise's parentage as she was adopted as a baby and there are rumors that she is the daughter of a well known root doctor. I also really liked the storyline featuring Elise's new partner and his past history. This was such a fast-paced mystery because there were these other smaller side mysteries going on. My attention was engaged the entire time and that was exactly what I needed when I had been feeling so slumpy previously. I especially liked the ending of this book because I thought that I had it all figured out but the author managed to surprise me. I'm really looking forward to picking up the second book in this series in the very near future!

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book! I'm glad that I finally decided to dive into Frasier's backlist a bit and am really looking forward to reading that second book soon. At this point, I basically plan on reading everything and anything that she writes because I've loved everything that I've read by her so far! I would recommend this book to fans of atmospheric mysteries and to those readers who enjoy darker police procedurals. Highly recommended!

Bottom Line: Another really great read by an author that is fast becoming a favorite of mine!

Disclosure: I read this book through Kindle Unlimited. Honest thoughts are my own. show less

David Gould is Savannah Homicide Detective Elise Sandburg's new partner. He's former FBI and is on the run from a personal tragedy; his ex-wife drowned their son in the bathtub so that her new boyfriend would accept her. Now, she's in prison and David is trying to build his life in Savannah and deal with his grief. He's been under psychiatric care and on drugs which are having a effect on his job performance.

Elise Sandburg is a Savannah native who was found abandoned as an infant in one of Savannah's many cemeteries. She has always believed that her father was a noted conjure man. She played a bit with magic when she was a teen but has now settled in as a homicide detective. She's divorced and has a thirteen-year-old daughter named show more Audrey who prefers to live with her father and stepmother.

The latest case the pair are working on has to do with bodies sent to the morgue who aren't actually dead. There's a new drug called TTX that mimics death. However, superstitious Savannah is spreading rumors of zombies. Since a number of the victims are associated with Black Tupelo - an "escort service" run by a Gullah woman named Strata Luna who is known for her own conjuring, the rumor is flourishing.

Elise and David are looking for a more realistic reason for the deaths but find themselves getting more involved than is probably good for them with Strata Luna and the magical parts of Savannah.

I enjoyed the plot of this story. The characters were also intriguing people. I loved the setting and the magical elements. The narrator did a great job with the voices and accents. show less

David Gould is Savannah Homicide Detective Elise Sandburg's new partner. He's former FBI and is on the run from a personal tragedy; his ex-wife drowned their son in the bathtub so that her new boyfriend would accept her. Now, she's in prison and David is trying to build his life in Savannah and deal with his grief. He's been under psychiatric care and on drugs which are having a effect on his job performance.

Elise Sandburg is a Savannah native who was found abandoned as an infant in one of Savannah's many cemeteries. She has always believed that her father was a noted conjure man. She played a bit with magic when she was a teen but has now settled in as a homicide detective. She's divorced and has a thirteen-year-old daughter named show more Audrey who prefers to live with her father and stepmother.

The latest case the pair are working on has to do with bodies sent to the morgue who aren't actually dead. There's a new drug called TTX that mimics death. However, superstitious Savannah is spreading rumors of zombies. Since a number of the victims are associated with Black Tupelo - an "escort service" run by a Gullah woman named Strata Luna who is known for her own conjuring, the rumor is flourishing.

Elise and David are looking for a more realistic reason for the deaths but find themselves getting more involved than is probably good for them with Strata Luna and the magical parts of Savannah.

I enjoyed the plot of this story. The characters were also intriguing people. I loved the setting and the magical elements. The narrator did a great job with the voices and accents. show less

This is Book One in a new detective series featuring homicide detectives Elise Sandburg and David Gould. It is set in Savannah, where an interesting mix of voodoo, magic, and kudzu adds a rich atmosphere to the plot - indeed, Savannah itself can definitely be considered a “character” in this series.

The story begins in the morgue, where some bodies are discovered of people who are not actually dead; rather, they have been paralyzed by the toxin TTX, or Tetrodotoxin. TTX is a naturally occurring poison in some fish that is sometimes used by people to get high from the proximity to death… It is also occasionally used to induce zombie-like obedience. [You can read about so-called "zombie powder" on this science site.]

Elise, 31, was show more abandoned in a cemetery as an infant and subsequently adopted. It is widely rumored her real father was Jackson Sweet, a well-known local rootworker, or conjurer. These workers in folk magic use mixtures of roots, herbs and other substances to cast spells. The concoctions, called a mojo, are put together into a “mojo bag.” While Elise had an interest in such things as a young girl because of her rumored ancestry, she gave it up after a particularly bad result occurred that she associated with a mojo she had prepared.

Now, she is the single mom of Audrey, age 13, and getting used to a new partner at work, David, a former FBI agent from Cleveland. David keeps a lot to himself; clearly he is leading a tortured existence, but no one on the Savannah force knows much about him.

But if author Anne Frasier is known for anything, it is her skill at romance novels, and you can bet there is a reluctant attraction between Elise and David.

Evaluation: I only have first-hand knowledge of Frasier’s writing as Theresa Weir, from her excellent memoir, The Orchard. She did not disappoint at all with this mystery. Her character development of the two troubled main protagonists is excellent, and I definitely intend to continue with this series and see what develops between David and Elise. show less

This novel is billed as the beginning of a Gothic/zombie/paranormal series featuring homicide detective Elise Sandburg working in Savannah. However it is a series that I won't be following. This book was just not my cup of tea and we nearly parted company early on when the author was trying to "educate" me about zombieism and voodooism. There were police procedural aspects which I thought were the book's salvation but in general I struggled, although I got to the end.

I must acknowledge though that my feelings are not echoed by other exuberant reviewers on Amazon.

This is more of a 3.5 stars than a solid 4.

I enjoyed this book, mostly, because of the characters. Elise and David make for a good partnership, which I’m assuming appears in subsequent books in the series. The other characters are also very enjoyable making this book very entertaining.

As mysteries goes, there isn’t many twists and turns or even suspense. Not of high quality anyway. You might be surprised by the ending, but in hindsight, it makes complete sense, and it should’ve been obvious.

There are certain parts that don’t make much sense, and side stories that are there more for character building than for relevance to the main plot.

If you don’t have anything else to read, and you’re into mysteries, you can give this one show more a shot. show less